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Interview: Deaf Havana

After some rough times in 2014, Deaf Havana is back in action. The band will be releasing their most eclectic and expansive album yet, All These Countless Nights, on January 27, 2017. In the months leading up to their new albu, the band has taken on new management and signed to a new record label, So Recordings. In the meantime, we chatted with the lead vocalist, James Veck-Gilodi, to talk about the album and other big plans for the upcoming new year.

Can you tell us a little bit about Deaf Havana for any readers who may not be familiar?

We are a 5 piece rock band based in London England, I try to write songs that connect with as many people as possible but still have a few catchy choruses

What makes Deaf Havana stand out from the rest of the bands in the industry?

I try to derive my lyrical content from my own experiences and I try to write songs that are real and that could maybe help people or at least be relatable to them. A lot of music nowadays lacks that feature, I think people play music for the wrong reasons these days.

Your album, All These Countless Nights, drops on January 27th, what songs are you most excited for your fans to hear?

It certainly does! I think the song “Happiness” which is track 4. It’s one of the most personal songs on the record and it’s also the song that I took the title from the album from. There’s a song called “Pretty Low” which is fairly different to anything we have written before, also one of my favourites on the record. Lastly I would say the final track on the record, “Pensacola, 2013”, that is another one of my personal favourites and I think closes the album very well. Mostly I just can’t wait for people to hear the whole record if I’m honest.

What are some musical influences that can be heard on your upcoming album All These Countless Nights?

I think there are definitely a few Kings Of Leon influences in there. But also things like Placebo, and Smashing Pumpkins. There’s way too many to list, we all listen to such a varied amount of music that it’s almost impossible to sum up.

How did the writing process go about when writing your new record? Any particular headspace you guys were in when when writing and recording All These Countless Nights?

Well it was mainly me on my own, just writing songs on an acoustic guitar, to later turn into full band songs. The headspace varied quite a lot because I wrote these songs over a period of about 3 years, in which time I underwent some significant changes in my life. Some of the songs I wrote when I was in an extremely low and negative place, but some were written when I was at my happiest. I think this gives the record way more diversity than our previous albums due to the fact that I wrote the songs for those in a period of about a month.

Do you ever feel that there is a lot of pressure or expectations on you when writing a new album?

I do and I don’t. Of course when you have pressure on your shoulders to deliver a record it can get stressful and even be detrimental to the writing process, but this time we had a very long period so the songs came out really naturally with almost no stress at all. I think that also adds to the sound of this record, it’s the most grounded and diverse one yet.

How do you feel you’ve grown from when you first formed to now? What has been the biggest lesson you’ve learned along the way?

I think there are still times when I can let things get the best of me and crumble under pressure, but I’m definitely a more stable human being (for now anyway haha). The biggest lesson I’ve learnt is to not get caught up in all the bullshit that surrounds being in a band and touring and signing to record labels etc, never lose sight of why you started playing music in the first place. Do it for the right reasons and most of all love what you’re doing, otherwise it can be a slippery slope.

Any other big plans for 2017 besides the album release?

I cannot wait to release this album, tour and get the wheels in motion!

At last, what message would you like to give to your fans and our readers?

Thank you so much for riding this out with us and I truly hope you enjoy listening to our new record as much as we enjoyed creating it.